


Eyes

by shifty_cat



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shifty_cat/pseuds/shifty_cat
Summary: Makoto and Akira pose for Yusuke.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 10
Kudos: 56





	Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Taken from chapter 27 of Returning, originally posted for Makoto's birthday. Reposting as a one-shot because I really like this scene, and I don't only want people who've put up with 26 other chapters of Returning to see it.

"So, uhhh, what exactly should we _do_?"

Yusuke continued rummaging around his studio, setting up his paints and canvas. "I wish to capture the essence of Love in its natural form. Whatever you consider to be the natural expression of your mutual desires would be suitable as a subject."

Makoto and Akira shared a look, more than a little confused by the less than exact direction. Akira shrugged and gently tipped Makoto's chin up, leaning down to meet her in a soft, affectionate kiss. She melted into him with a quiet sigh into his mouth.

"Yes! Perfect! Now, hold that position." Both of them turned with wide eyes at Yusuke's exultant exclamation, and he shook his head with a frustrated sigh as he framed them with his fingers before turning back to his canvas. "Please, resume what you were doing."

Makoto turned back to Akira with a conflicted raise of an eyebrow, tapping an uncertain finger to her chin. "I'm not sure that standing entirely still while we hold a kiss would really be the most natural 'expression of our desires'. We usually... _move_ a bit."

Akira thought for a moment, then smiled and rested a hand on Makoto's hip, turning them to directly face one another. He brought his other hand up to lightly brush her cheek, and stood, stock-still, looking deep into her eyes with a contented, amorous grin.

It was by no means fair how such a simple touch could still bring a hot blush to Makoto's cheek, but two could play that game. She held his waist with one hand and brought the other up to rest on his chest, giving him a playful smirk as she felt his heartbeat speed up.

Not wanting to spook his subjects again, Yusuke quietly hummed his approval and set to work. Makoto and Akira held their poses, challenging each other to resist the urge to get closer as they conversed through the deep, intimate contact between their eyes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU8OJAOMbPg

Of the many, many things Akira found attractive about Makoto, her eyes were very close to the top of the list. The unusual, crimson irises of the Niijima clan sparkled with her brilliance and flashed with her resolve and burned with her passion, perpetually active with the machinations of her mind. For someone who was often quite soft-spoken, her eyes were the outward expression of the depth of thought and emotion she experienced.

He occasionally dreamed of the way she looked at him the day she caught them, how powerless but how strangely at peace he felt under the intensity of her gaze. While he rationally knew that she posed an existential threat to the continuation of the Phantom Thieves, the deadly serious question beneath the accusation in her eyes gave him faith (as foolish as it felt in the moment) that she believed in them, and he in turn believed in her.

With the benefit of hindsight, he may have begun falling for her in earnest when she demanded they prove their Justice. He could infer easily enough that Kobayakawa had tasked her with discovering and turning in the Thieves, but he saw in the conflict and the sincerity in her eyes that she desperately wanted them to be the agents of Justice they claimed to be, and found himself wanting just as desperately to prove himself to her.

When a cruel dismissal from Ann had her running recklessly into danger, the look in her eyes had shaken him to his core. While he only found out later how deeply Sae had wounded her, he knew the depth of pain she showed in that moment all too well. She had done everything she believed to be right and had received only suffering, betrayed by every authority in her life, alone and rudderless. He had worn those eyes, sitting in a cell.

Queen's eyes were a revelation. Her iron will and razor intellect blazed from behind her mask, the implacable Fist of Justice fighting by his side. While he may have started falling for her with her demand to prove their Justice, with her Awakening he was definitely falling for her, and hard. Seeing the true form of her own deep sense of Justice, in concert with his own, meant everything. And god was she ever fucking hot riding Johanna.

Makoto's eyes, once he really got to know her, were a subtle, charming symphony of all the complicated, deeply impressive, often adorable things that made her Makoto. From her motherly concern for the other Thieves, to her firm and admirable belief in Justice, to her frustration at the eternally futile quest to get Ryuji to study for once, to the way they lit up in the cutest way possible at the sight of anything and everything Buchi-kun.

But the eyes that he loved the most were the eyes she only showed him, the vulnerable, open, trusting eyes he had spent countless hours rapturously reading since they became Study Partners. Eyes that told him how much every day together meant to her, how happy she was to share their lives and thoughts and feelings and bodies. The eyes that told him, in no uncertain terms, just how much she loved him. The eyes she wore now.

Of the innumerable qualities Makoto found attractive about Akira, his eyes were very close to the top of the list. The calm, approachable pools of cool grey held a depth of feeling and perception and empathy that could be a little bit breathtaking at times. For someone who had experienced deep injustice, his eyes kept a playful optimism, a hope for the potential of good people to rise above adversity, even if it meant changing the world.

She occasionally dreamed of the way he looked at her the day she caught them, the (understandable) fear of the power she held over him mixed with a disarming innocence, and a strange sense of calm. Not only did he clearly believe in the Justice of what they were doing, but he seemed to see in her the capacity and the desire to recognize that Justice. It was entirely irrational, but there was nothing she wanted more in that moment than to believe in him.

With the benefit of hindsight, she may have started falling for him when she offered the Thieves her ultimatum. While the others were (understandably) quite hostile, he was different. His immediate response was a concerned, thoughtful look, taking in the problem and beginning his plan of action. She could barely look him in the eyes with how terrible she felt doing this to them, but his eyes held no malice towards her, only will to do the right thing. She had wished, more than anything, that she could join him.

Joker's eyes were, well, fucking hot were the only words that really adequately described them, as much as she chided herself for sounding like Eiko. His boundless confidence and playful elegance radiated from behind his mask, the fearless leader of their improbable band of misfit vigilantes. Her crush on him was immediate and enormous, and it took her well into their time together as Study Partners to not see him as way out of her league.

Her heart had broken at the look in his eyes after the interrogation. While he tried to put on a brave face for the Thieves, he couldn't hide the harrowed, shaken undercurrent lurking beneath his confident façade, not from her. She had gently coaxed him to open up once they were alone, as she bandaged him up, and while he still had his emotional scars, it meant everything to see the faint glimmer of his beautiful light return to his eyes as they lay together following a long and loud cry on her shoulder.

Akira's eyes, once she really got to know him, were an adventure, at once exciting and comfortable, all of the charming, compassionate, playful, at times infuriatingly inscrutable things that made him Akira. From his nurturing, protective concern for his de facto little sister, to his sudden interest in some place they had passed by a hundred times, to the way he listened to everyone with his full attention, to the way he smiled at Morgana's antics.

But the eyes that she loved the most were the eyes he only showed her, the vulnerable, open, trusting eyes she had spent countless hours rapturously reading since they became Study Partners. Eyes that told her how much every day together meant to him, how happy he was to share their lives and thoughts and feelings and bodies. The eyes that told her, in no uncertain terms, just how much he loved her. The eyes he wore now.

Yusuke's piece was magnificent, from the comfortable, affectionate contact between them to the tangible energy flickering between their eyes. Makoto and Akira were both awestruck, but Yusuke gave it a thoughtful frown. "My one regret is that the perspective gives only half of your beautiful expressions, but I dare not approach it from any other angle. You are both equally important subjects, to focus on the face of one of you at the expense of the other would destroy the balance of the piece."

Akira shrugged with a grin. "That's the half that we can outwardly show. The whole look is only between the two of us."

Yusuke nodded with an approving hum and tapped a finger to his chin. "Is that then the fundamental problem of expressing Love through art? The divide between the esoteric experience of loving and the exoteric phenomena of lovers."

Makoto gave him a warm smile. "Well, maybe you'll find someone you can paint looking at you the way we look at each other."

He gave her a subtle, thoughtful grin. "I must admit, that would be quite beautiful."

When Makoto and Akira had left, he returned to critically examining the painting. "I _do_ wish that they had agreed to my initial concept. The physical act of lovemaking has such untapped potential for dynamic composition, so many expressive possibilities."

Pipii Pipii.

Oracle: If you wanna do lewds, start writing fanfic.

Inari: Admittedly, I am not much of a writer, but I am intrigued.


End file.
